Roman chairs

[Chariovalda]

Well, I’ve been busy looking through my books and the Internet on chairs and thrones (hey, Vorty and me undoubtedly want to have *our* turn too sitting on a throne, sooner or later J)

When you look at this 3rd century relief from Trier, you have a sideview of a chair that is pretty much like a classical high-backed Roman chair, which apparently could be made of wood or of wicker.



Here’s a picture of a chair on a 4th century sarcophagus from the Vatican:



Looks like a classical type high-backed chair made of wicker, no? Notice the footstool, by the way.

I am going out on a limb here, but I bet the classical high-backed chair was still pretty common in late Roman times.

Now take another look at the throne of Maximian, front and side views



It seems the throne is derived, in shape, from the classical chair, and it may have been, even at this time, nothing more and nothing less than a fancy version of a chair type still in common use at the time (or at least until fairly recently). However, its seating area looks a bit “highâ€